Cellist's Tucson debut highlight of Tucson Symphony Orchestra concert

German-Canadian cellist Johannes Moser is apparently an avid outdoorsman.

His website homepage photo shows him in a forest wearing jeans and a hoodie, which fits with his bio description of “a keen hiker and mountain biker in what little spare time he has.”

Hopefully, he’ll have some spare time between performances with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra this weekend to hit a trail or two here. We’re especially fond of Tumamoc Hill, which might just give him the energy he’ll need for the third movement scherzo of Henri Dutilleux’s Cello Concerto, “Tout un monde lointain” (A Whole Distant World).

Moser, making his TSO debut under the baton of Music Director José Luis Gomez, will perform the French composer’s concerto that he wrote in 1970 for cello great Mstislav Rostropovich. The five-movement work, inspired by the poetry of Charles Baudelaire, is largely considered one of the most important 20th-century additions to the cello repertoire.

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Gomez opens “Pines and Fountains of Rome” with Valerie Coleman‘s “Umoja,” the first principle of Kwanzaa. Coleman, a founding member of Imani Winds and a Grammy-nominated flutist, intended that the piece be a reminder of kindness and humanity, as well as a bold call of unity through the lens of social justice. Given the state of the world today, her piece also resonates with what’s happening in Israel and Ukraine.

The cornerstone of the concert, which the orchestra will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 20, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 22, is Respighi’s “Fountains of Rome” and “Pines of Rome,” two of three-tone poems the 20th-century Italian composer wrote celebrating Rome.

The four-movement “Fountains” depicts the different times of day at four of the Italian capital's famous fountains: Valle Giulia, Triton, Trevi and Villa Medici. “Pines” celebrates Rome’s pine trees in the Villa Borghese gardens, along the Appian Way, near a catacomb and on the Janiculum Hill, the second tallest hill in Rome.

The orchestra performs at Linda Ronstadt Music Hall, 260 S. Church Ave. Tickets are $14-$90 through tucsonsymphony.org.